


The Lost Little Boy

by ElementalTitan



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Ignore season 3, M/M, Soft Billy Hargrove, Soft Steve Harrington
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-07-19 03:27:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19967284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElementalTitan/pseuds/ElementalTitan
Summary: Amber Jones-Miller was determined to find her lost boy. The boy that she left in California 18 years previous and has searched for since.Billy Hargrove was just beginning to enjoy life in butt-fucking nowhere Hawkins. Everything was coming together with the odd hiccup appearing.The one hiccup he never expected was for his mother to re-enter his life after what he believed to be years of abandonment.





	1. Daisy's Diner

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This is my first fanfic in a very long time and I am very excited!  
> The first chapter is a simple prologue for the story, just to give you an idea of what I believe Billy's mother did after she left.  
> I will ask everyone to bear with me, I'm in my final year of training to be a veterinary nurse which of course is my priority in life so I'll upload as often as I can.  
> All that said, happy reading my friends!

It was deep into the Hawkins summer when the Jones-Miller couple rocked up into town. The aged but ever beautiful Amber had never been this far east in America and never truly had the desire to leave her home state of California. She’d spent her whole life in the sunny state. There was where she made the biggest mistake of believing she could fix a broken man and had the best moment of her life when she gave birth to her son William. 

From then, it had taken 10 years before it had all become too much for the Californian sweetheart. Too much of the beating, blaming and bypassing. So she left. Went to work one day and never came home. 

She can still remember the heart-breaking call of her son, pleading with her to come home. To not leave him. Amber tried to assure her little boy that all would be alright, she just needed to gather some money and she’d be back. She’d whisk him off to their dream home and they’d never have to deal with the likes of Neil Hargrove ever again. 

And that was what she did, went back up towards the north of the state to where her last remaining family resided. She knew her aunt would not be fond of her estranged niece sticking around but Amber also knew she’d never be cruel enough to leave her on the streets. 

She should’ve been concerned the first time William never answered her phone calls. And the second but she drew it up to the boy being upset with her. 

The concern only came 1 month into her stay, 1 month of working 10 hours diner shifts and then late-night shifts at the local bar. A call came through to the diner, a diner that Neil should never have been able to find. She answered the phone with the usual greeting; 

“Good evening! Daisy’s Diner, Amber speaking! How can I make your day as bright as a daisy?”  
Silence welcomed her pseudo-happy chime before he chuckled darkly and spoke.

“You won’t see him again.”

The tone of an abandoned call came through the phone. Within seconds, Amber had dropped the device and tore out of the diner.  
She didn’t speak to her aunt before gathering the simple necessities and jumping into the car, speeding south. It was a 7 hour drive to the town she had left her boy in after all. 

By the time she arrived, she was dead on her feet. Torn between the panic of losing her child and the biological need to rest. She begged and hoped that it was just Neil’s sick way of getting her back, her boy would be sitting at their crude excuse of a dining table and would smile in his sunny way when she walked through the door.

After all these years, Amber should’ve known better than to get her hopes up.  
Instead of the old, familiar setting, she was met with cold empty rooms. No signs of life or living, no sign that her son had ever even been living in the two bed apartment. 

It had taken at least 10 minutes of pounding before the neighbours opened their door. Without greeting or explanation, she demanded they tell her everything they knew. As it turned it, they didn’t know much. Just that Neil had been fired from his factory job and moved away in search of new work. They didn’t know what town, they didn’t even know what general direction he had moved in. 

That night, Amber lay curled on the floor of what was her little William’s bedroom and cried. Cried until the migraine came and tears emptied. In the days following, she searched all the towns nearby for any information or sign of her once family.  
Even after 8 years, she never truly stopped just slowed down, keeping an eye on news reports and checking every town she came across. 

In those 8 years, she met Patrick. Dr Patrick Jones was a paediatric doctor at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and he was perfect. 3 years into the relationship, she told him of her troubled past and he took it all in his stride. Never judging or shouting, just acceptance and affection. In the months following, Patrick proposed and of course, Amber said yes.  
They were married not long after, in the small church of her parent’s hometown with very few witnesses. Just the friend the couple had gathered over the years. 

As every year past, Amber thought of her lost son. Wondering where he was, who he had grown up to be and if he still resented her for leaving him, good intentions or not. Every year, she wished she could be there for his birthday, that he could be there for their Christmas celebration. Patrick supported her through her bleak days and encouraged her happiness, celebrating the birthdays of her William. 

It was 2 years after the big white wedding that Patrick came home to find his wife sitting at the end of the bed crying. Pregnant. At aged 38, Amber Jones-Miller had fallen pregnant for the second time in her life. She knew that part of her should be glowing with happiness but most her grieved for the son she lost. How could she have another child without knowing the child she already had? 

It was all Patrick's idea to do one last detailed search into the whereabouts of William Hargrove. He had friends in the CPD that he believed could help.  
Amber had spent almost 8 years looking for her son. It had taken 1 month after being contacted for Patrick’s CPD friend to bring up a lead. 

One Mr Neil Hargrove had been arrested for drunk driving and one Mr William Hargrove had bailed his father out. In Hawkins. Middle of nowhere Hawkins, Indiana. 

As soon as Patrick cleared his wife fit enough to travel such a journey, they left. Driving east in haste to meet their final hope. 

~~~~~~~~

Over 33 hours away, Billy Hargrove was stretching out on a sun lounger by the pool out the back of Steve's house. Beer in hand, a mixtape with a collection of Billy and Steve's favourite hits and the kids all splashing about in the pool. This was Billy's life now and as he looked to his left to see Steve and Jonathan debating the best track on the tape with Nancy shaking her head at the both of them, Billy realised that for the first time in a long time... he was happy.


	2. Not The Best First Impression

Billy’s life had taken the biggest turn around, one that could never have been predicted by anyone. Once, he a broken man that hated everyone that looked in his general direction. Now, he felt… softer, more open and cared about. 

Harrington and his pose of brats rushed him to the hospital after he had regained control of his own mind and body, but Billy had refused to stay there for any second longer than he needed. Partially because he always hated being dependant and partially to avoid angering his father further. From the moment he left the hospital, Billy stayed in his room and refused to leave for any other reason that his father’s demands. 

In the months following the Mind-Flayer-Mind-Fuck, Billy was still buckling along under the weight of guilt and never-ending nightmares.   
The first step in the direction of salvation for Billy – to his surprise – came from Max. It started with the headache tablets and glasses of water that would be left beside his bed each night and each morning. Following that, plates of food left outside his bedroom door. Pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Spaghetti and burgers for dinner. It didn’t take long for Billy to realise Max was leaving his favourite foods, but he never managed to figure out how she knew of these foods. It morphed into a brother-sister relationship that Billy was unused to but grateful for all the same. 

The next olive branch came from Chief Hopper when the old copper turned up at Billy’s door one day. Neil had gone off as soon as he realised the cop was there for his troubled son, no amount of Hoppers reassurance would sway the man's bad mood.

-~-

“I stuck your car in the garage.”

These were the first words out of Hopper’s mouth once Billy made it to the door. It took a good minute for Billy to comprehend what the chief had just said to him. His car? In a garage? The smashed up, rammed to fuck Camaro… that car?

“Say again, chief?” Billy leaned against the doorframe, “Last I saw my car was nothing but a mound of scrapped metal and shattered glass.”

Hopper smirked trying to keep the faint amusement to himself, “See, after what I say now, I’m expecting a ‘thank you’”.

Billy scoffed as if that would happen. 

“It’s over at Pinkies Garage, just down the road from Bradley’s Big Buy.” Hopper handed over a note with the address roughly jotted down. “However, if you want the thing fixed, you gotta do Pinkie a favour.”

Hardening his eyes and straightening his posture, Billy locked eyes with the chief. “Like fuck am I gonna be someones errand boy.”

“Never said that, just a favour. Calm your horses, lad. Head over there when you’re ready.”  
With that, Hopper climber back into his truck and drove deeper into the towns centre. 

-~-

It had taken 5 days for Billy to get off his ass and walk to Pinkies. He could smell the grease and hear the harsh sound of rock music within 5 minutes of the garage. Upon walking through the door, he came across possibly the tiniest man Billy had ever seen.

Short enough that Billy could rest his elbow on the man’s head if he so wished and the most noticeable thing that stood out was the missing eye. At least Billy assumed it was missing since there was big pink patch over it, decorating the patch was a pair of wrenches crossed over each other.   
The man wore camouflage trousers and an old black wife beater, with a worn blue baseball cap. He seemed to be muttering to himself as he slammed the hood of a car shut.  
So this was Pinkie. 

Just over the man’s shoulder, Billy spotted his blue beauty. 

“Oi, flower girl! What you lookin’ at?” The harsh voice cut through Billy’s thought as he looked down to see the hobbit of man had walked over to him. 

“I beg your fucking-pardon? Flower girl?” Eyebrows raised, Billy stared Pinkie down.

“Hair like that I half expect it to be full of daisies.” The old man seemed to pause for though. “Yeah. Daisies. Daisy. What do you want, daisy?”

All the rambling had Billy stuttering over his words and unsure of what to say in retaliation. It took a good few minutes for Billy to get back on track, glaring down at the man.

“Now look here, jackass. I’m not flower girl! I’m not daisy! My name is Billy fucking Har-”

“Ah, you’re the little shit Hopper was sending down to me.” Once again, Billy stood shocked as Pinkie seemed to stare him down. “You’ll do I guess.”

With that, the man walked off back towards to the car he was at before and carried on working on the vehicle. It seemed today was the day for silence, stuttering and shock as once more Billy was left without a clue of what had just happened. 

“What just happened?”

“That’s your car back there. You want it back in working condition. You work for me now, daisy.” Pinkie said as it was the most obvious thing of all time. “There’s some spare uniform in the office. I’ll get proper shirt once you prove you’re actually worth my time.”

“Ah nah man, fuck this bullshit.” Billy stormed from the shop, shaking his head and muttering away to himself. 

2 days later you could Billy stuck underneath a client’s car or his own, dependant on the day.

3 weeks after that, he proudly wore a shirt with ‘Billy’ scrawled in the corner. 

-~-

By far the best thing to ever happen to Billy Hargrove was Steve Harrington. 

Between Max’s dropped off meals and Billy’s unexpected job, Harrington had taken to unofficially babysit the Californian.

His excuse; “You saved my kids, now I babysit you too.”

At first, his presence was a pain. He had terrible taste in music and spoke way too much. Not to mention, where pretty boy was it meant the kids weren’t far behind. They spent most of their time bickering, but Billy knew that most of his bickering originated from the deepest secret he had.

He was 90% sure he was gay but he was 100% sure he would happily suck Steve Harrington’s dick. 

Steve was a mystery of his own. Cocky, playboy King Steve turned adorable Mom Steve. The man who took a severe beating as a result of Billy’s shame and anger was now treating him like a friend, a friend that he wanted to look after. 

The last Billy had heard he was still wrapped around Wheelers little finger so the first time Steve (drunkenly) kissed Billy came as a hard shock.

Billy panicked and avoided the brunette for as long as he could which turned out to only be for a day and a half. He turned up at work to find Steve sitting in the office with Pinkie having a cup of coffee. Figures Harrington would charm his way into that one. 

Weeks of on/off fucking and alleyway kisses led to what Steve liked to call their ‘official beginning’ and from then on, Billy knew he was gone on the man. Never had he felt so weakened and strengthened by the same thing at the same time. Billy would do anything Steve asked, go anywhere, anytime but remained the tough, violent man he always was. It’s just that the violence was aimed at anyone who talked shit about him and Steve instead of being aimed at the pretty boy himself. 

It took a couple days for El to fall in love with Billy. 2 weeks for Mike and Will to approve of Billy. 1 month for Lucas to forgive him and just over a month and a half for Dustin to accept his relationship with Steve. 

(Although he would always make sure Billy was aware that he didn’t deserve Steve)

(Billy knew)

-~-

There were only two hotels in Hawkins – one was a run down motel that only attracted that kind of person. The other was a fairly decent hotel that for reasons lost on Patrick and Amber, cost an arm and a leg. The yellow Ford Cortina that the couple owned was the only splash of colour in the otherwise dreary landscape. 

The room was shit compared to what they lived in. Mould on the water pipes, the floral wallpaper turning a cigarette yellow and Amber thoroughly inspected the bed sheets before lying down. She knew that the baby was months away but exhaustion was still coming quicker and harder than she was used to. 

Patrick was scanning the available television stations when he felt his wife’s hand on his shoulder, “Honey, could you get me a drink from the vending machine? I forgot to grab something on the way past.”

Patrick simply smiled and kissed his wife’s head before heading off in the direction of the vending machine, already sure he knew that she would want.

Now, Patrick is a paediatric doctor. He’s a smart man, making a vending machine work shouldn’t be as hard as this and it definitely shouldn’t be taking this long either. Logic had turned into frustration as he kicked the bottom of the machine only to jump back in pain. He was sure he heard laughter but was too focused on the job at hand. It was probably why the hand on his shoulder made him jump like it did.

“Hey man, need some help with that?”

Turning to look at the young gentleman, he found a boy just going into manhood. Thick, large amounts of brunette hair sat atop his head in a way that looked purposefully messy, hair matched the soft, brown eyes that sung of laughter and safety. 

“Ah yes, it seems my drinks gotten stuck. Kicking doesn’t help as it turns out.” Patrick laughed and gestured to the can wedged between the rings and the glass.

The boy laughed back before fishing some coins from his pocket. He selected a number and slide the coins into the slot. Seconds later another can of drink fell down and knocked the can down with it. Leaning down, the boy fished both drinks out and held the can out.

“Damn machines. Here you go, man.”

Patrick took the drink from his hand and smiled at the boy once more, “Thank you, young man. What’s your na-”

“Harrington! C’mon baby! We don’t got all day!”

Interrupted, both Patrick and the boys heads turned to the source of the voice. Now this boy was the complete opposite of the one before him. Long, curled blonde hair reached just past his shoulders and blue eyes shone like the Californian coastline, stood next to a gleaming blue Camaro. The engine growled away, waiting to be driven and pushed into high speeds. For all his soft beach looks paired with the white shirt and denim jacket, it didn’t cover the look in those eyes.

Patrick could tell an angry, bitter person when he met one just by looking into their eyes. Eyes that showed there were stories to be told, reasons for the way they were like they were. Patrick made an effort to avoid eye like that.

“Alright, alright. I’m coming, Billy!” The boy – Harrington- called back before jogging over to the blond – Billy.

Wait.

Billy. He said Billy.

How many Billy’s were in Hawkins?

Patrick called out to stop the boys but it was too late, the pair were inside the impressive vehicle as it roared and took off, out of the parking lot.


	3. Lucie's Diner

No amount of explaining it was too late would’ve stopped Amber from running out of the motel room and to the side of the road. Never the less, Patrick tried. Tried being the key word. 

Amber hadn’t even noticed the lack of shoes on her feet as she bolted across the parking lot. The hot sun on the pavement burned the bottoms of her feet as she peered out at the roads. Hawkins wasn’t an overly busy town so there weren’t many cars out but out of the few that were out, none of them looked to be the sleek blue Camaro that Patrick had described to her. California plates and all. The optimist in Amber had hoped that maybe they had just gone to the shop and were coming back or maybe they would’ve forgotten something and needed to turn around. However, after 20 minutes of standing at the side of the road, it dawned on Amber that neither of these situations were true. 

She walked to the front desk to find Patrick already there. Prepared to ask the receptionist for information, her husband stopped her and pulled her to the side. 

“He paid the guy to keep quite.” 

“Billy paid the receptionist. Why? It’s a motel, what’s he hiding.” Amber couldn’t understand anything and refused to take that for an answer. Going into full mum mode as she dinged the bell until the receptionist came back with the most fed up expression she had ever seen.

“What?”

“The gentlemen in the blue Camaro. Who were they?” Amber lent on the desk with a hard look in her eyes.

“Like I told the other fella, lady, they paid me $20 to keep my trap shut. So, my trap is shut.”

“But, why?”

The guy looked at her as if she was missing brain cells, “Two fellas in one motel room with one double for the night? Pretty obvious to me, lady.”

“I’m from California, like I give a crap about what goes on behind closed doors. I just want to know the name of the blond one.” Amber pleaded in what she hoped would be the last time. 

The receptionist seemed to be thinking for a minute before sighing, “Give me $10.”

“What?”

“$10”

Patrick fished the notes out of his pocket and thrust them out to the man, both waiting on a bated breath.  
“No names but - god, he’ll kill me for this – they go to the diner every time after they leave here. Try that one.”

With that, he removed the bell from the desk and stuck it in a draw before walking away into the back again. 

Luckily there were town maps on a couple leaflets in the reception area that they used to follow as neither had any knowledge of the town and the receptionist clearly wanted nothing more to do with him. 

As they drove, Amber looked out the window at the little town that passed by. Most of it comprised of trees, little house sitting snuggly in between then. The houses out here were smaller and mostly contained bungalows, the further into tow they went, the bigger the houses got. There were few shops in the area, only small ones for small town ideas such a fishing shop and a small florist. How they were able to survive the ever-growing Star Court, Amber was unsure. If the long, nasty and mysterious business that had occurred the year previous had anything to do with it then the owner’s should count themselves lucky the mall hadn’t recovered as well as expected. 

It still took another 10 minutes of driving for them to come across a diner. It was decorated in that classy way of the times, almost like it was a movie set from the 1950s, smelling of cigarettes, black coffee and syrup. Brandished proudly over the front was ‘Lucies’.

Most importantly in the car park, sat the blue Camaro, gleaming away like a precious sapphire and through the windows of the diner, Patrick could see the pair sitting in booth. Quickly, he pointed them out to his wife who went silent and still upon seeing them. After a few seconds, she began striding into the diner.

Luckily there was a booth right across from the one the boys were in, allowing Patrick and Amber to sit where they could easily see and hear the pair.

“Well?” Patrick spoke after a couple minutes. “Is it him?”

“His eyes haven’t changed one bit and his hairs always been on the wild side. I know my son.”

A few more minutes of silence stretched out. “Aren’t you going to say something to him?”

Amber remained silent for a little longer, “No, not now. Not yet. I just want to look at him for a while.”

His eyes looked like everything and nothing that she had imagined. So bright and alive, running hot like the Camaro he drove but there was a hardness there, something dark and ever shifting. Dirty blonde curls grew long, just touching the top of his shoulders. His tan seemed to of carried the sun’s energy with him, dragging it across the country towards Hawkins. 

He sat forward, elbows resting on the edge of the table and legs wide open. One hand was spinning his cup of coffee in circles whilst one hand rested over the top of the hand that belonged to the boy across from him. His red lips stretched wide and open, tongue poking out slightly between his teeth. He seemed happy.

Pancakes and bacon soaked in maple syrup sat next to a cup of black coffee in front of Billy and across from him, French Toast with whipped cream and strawberries belong to the man that he was sitting with.

A waitress came over to take their orders and Amber briefly noticed the name tag on her chest spelled ‘Lucie’. Patrick order coffee and some oatmeal whereas Amber settled on herbal tea to try and still her nerves. Just as the waitress began walking away, the brunette boy in the booth called out to her and she walked back to their table.

“You coming over later, Luc? Barbeque and pool party at mine.”

“Didn’t you literally just have one of those?” Lucie laughed, hand on hip.

“Yeah but you and Robin couldn’t make it. Not to mention, I got a shit ton of food left and still no parents.” The boy wiggled his eyebrows up at the girl.

“Not to mention, Steve’s a social whore.” It was the first thing the blond had spoken up and Amber couldn’t tear her eyes away from his face.

“Fuck you, Billy.”

“Mhm, maybe later.” Billy smirked back at who Amber assumed was his boyfriend. 

The trio laughed and Amber was captivated by the sound, tears welling in her eyes. Patrick reached his hand out and took Amber’s in his, a silent display of support. The happy moment was interrupted when a doorbell chimed to signal a new customer entering. Another teenage boy covered head to toe in freckles which an expression that looked as if he could smell dog shit. 

In the corner of her eye, Amber saw her son stand up. “What’s that little shit doing in here?”  
Amber had heard that anger before, in Neil’s voice and she couldn’t believe she was hearing it now from Billy. His face had turned to stone, all signs of happiness long gone. 

Within seconds, Billy had stormed his way across the diner and was up in the other kids face. The whole diner had gone silent except for Billy’s boyfriend – Steve – and Lucie who trailed after Billy.

“Billy, baby, don’t do this. C’mon, sit down.”

“Don’t make me kick you out, Billy. You’re my friend and I don’t want to but please don’t start a fight inside the diner.”

It was quiet for a moment, no one spoke in the dinner as Billy ignore the pair and glared down at the boy before him. The boy looked dwarfed by Billy who wasn’t necessarily taller but was a hell of a lot bigger than him. 

“Well, Tommy, anything to say? Or are you too busy swallowing at that horse shit you chat behind our back? Never to our face huh?”

The boy stayed silent, avoiding looking into Billy’s eyes. Billy laughed for a second, “Yeah, I thought so. Get the fuck out.”

Billy turned away and started walking back to the booth and Lucie let out a sigh of relief as Steve patted Billy’s back. People began to whisper between themselves once more and other started to eat again, believing the situation was settled down now. But the freckled boy wasn’t done. 

“Faggot.”

Steve’s head dropped down and hung, “Fuck.”

Some people hadn’t noticed the word and carried on with their breakfast, but Billy had heard. Cutlery scrapped over plates and slurping of coffee seemed to fill the diner as most people either hadn’t heard or pretended they hadn’t.  
Billy threw down some money at the booth, to pay for their breakfast and coffee before looking at Lucie.

“Don’t start a fight in the dinner you said, right Luc?”

With that, Billy launched across the dinner scruffed Tommy’s shirt in his fist and dragged him outside. The momentum of it all, caused the boy to fall down onto the tarmac of the parking lot. Steve and Lucie raced outside whilst Patrick and Amber ran to the window, looking out. 

Tommy had gotten to his feet and was now arguing with Billy. Meanwhile Billy’s pair stood behind him, looking as if they were trying to placate the situation. After a few seconds, everyone watched on as Billy drew an arm back and decked the freckled boy in the face. Blood sported from his nose as he fell to the ground, disorientated and everyone watching gasped. 

Steve launched forwards, grabbing Billy’s shoulder as the blond raised a foot as if he was going to stamp down on Tommy. It took a couple seconds of whispering in his ear but he managed to get Billy to calm down and walk back to the Camaro. 

Everything was over in a matter of minutes. Billy sat angrily in the driver seat of the Camaro, seething in silent rage. Steve and Lucie stood looking down at Tommy before Lucie stuffed a rag into Tommy’s face and Steve started backing up to the Camaro.

“So you’re coming later, Luc?”

“Fuck you, Harrington. And fuck you too, Hargrove!” The black-haired beauty called out.

Steve laughed, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Amber watched as the car pulled out of the parking lot and thundered down the road, not paying much mind to the speed limit. The Californian girl had so many questions and so many concerns.

She didn’t know how but she needed to talk to her son.


End file.
